Vol. 47:2/3 (2020) ► pp.266–302
The monolingual approach in American linguistic fieldwork
In the first decades of the 20th century, fieldwork — collection of language data through direct interaction with a native speaker — was foundational to American linguistics. After a mid-century period of neglect, fieldwork has recently been revived as a means to address the increasing rate of language endangerment worldwide. Twenty-first century American fieldwork inherits some, but not all, of the traits of earlier fieldwork. This article examines the history of one controversial issue, whether a field worker should adopt a monolingual approach, learning and using the target language as a medium of exchange with native speakers, as opposed to relying on interpreters or a lingua franca. Although the monolingual approach is not widely practiced, modern proponents argue strongly for its value. The method has been popularized though ‘monolingual demonstrations’ to audiences of linguists, which, curiously, are not wholly consistent with the character of 21st-century fieldwork.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Monolingual approaches in the first 20th century wave of American fieldwork
- 2.1The language of fieldwork in Boas and his students
- 2.2The language of fieldwork in Bloomfield and the post-Bloomfieldians
- 2.3The monolingual approach in 20th century American missionary fieldwork
- 2.4Fieldworkers and their partners in the first half of the 20th century
- 3.Shift in the status and practice of linguistic fieldwork, 1960 to 1980s
- 4.Monolingual approaches in a second wave of fieldwork, from 1990
- 4.1Comparison between first and second waves of 20th-century American fieldwork
- 4.2The language of fieldwork in the second wave of American linguistic fieldwork
- 4.3Controversy over monolingual methods
- 5.The monolingual approach demonstrated
- 5.1Prehistory of the monolingual demonstration
- 5.2Pike’s and Everett’s monolingual demonstrations
- 5.3What do monolingual demonstrations aim to accomplish?
- 5.4Monolingual demonstrations in the context of 21st century fieldwork
- 6.Conclusion
- Notes
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References
https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.00078.tho